Sea2Shore
A structured route from the last contract to the first shore year. Built because we watched too many good officers make the move badly and go back to sea within eighteen months.
Four stages, running from before you sign off to a year after you start ashore.
Coming ashore is not one decision. It is a sequence: working out which shore roles your sea time actually opens, presenting that experience so a shore reader understands it, getting through interviews that ask unfamiliar questions, and then surviving a first year that feels nothing like a rotation.
Most people attempt all four alone and at speed, usually in the two months after signing off. Sea2Shore spreads it out and puts someone alongside you who has done it several hundred times.
Four stages
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Orient
Which shore roles your rank, vessel type and inspection history actually open — and which ones are a stretch. An honest map before you start applying.
Before sign-off
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Translate
We rewrite the CV for a shore audience: rank to responsibility, tonnage to asset value, SIRE and TMSA history to compliance experience.
Week 1–2
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Prepare
Interview practice for the questions that catch seafarers out — competency framing, salary conversations, and how to answer "have you managed a team ashore?"
Week 2–4
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Land
Offer support, then check-ins at 30, 90 and 365 days. The first shore year has a predictable wobble, and knowing it is coming is most of the fix.
First year
What nobody tells you about the first year
Rank disappears. At sea, authority is structural and everyone can see it. Ashore, you build influence with managers who have never sailed. That lands around month three and it feels like failure. It is not.
Money changes shape. The shore figure looks smaller because sea earnings are tax-advantaged and carry no living costs. Model the real number before you accept, not after.
The pace is different. Decisions take three weeks. Meetings end without resolving anything. After a career where the answer arrived within one watch, that ambiguity is genuinely uncomfortable.
None of this is a reason to stay at sea. It is a reason to plan the move rather than take the first offer with a shore address.
About the programme
Who is Sea2Shore for?
Serving and recently sailing officers and engineers who want a shore role — typically Second Engineer and above, or Second Officer and above, though we take people earlier where the target role suits it.
What does it cost?
Nothing. Sea2Shore is part of how we work with candidates, and our fees are paid by employers.
Do I have to be signed off to start?
No, and it is better if you are not. The strongest transitions start a contract before someone comes ashore, because it gives time to fix the CV, understand the market and be ready when the right mandate appears.
Does it guarantee a job?
No, and anyone promising otherwise is selling something. It gets you correctly presented, properly prepared and in front of the mandates that fit. The hiring decision stays with the employer.
Thinking about coming ashore?
Start a contract early. It costs nothing and it changes what is available to you.